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Don't Put A Top Rung On Your People's Ladder

David Naylor, EVP of 2logical, works with global leaders to shift organizational mindsets, improve culture and impact performance.

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Every now and again, someone will say something, a simple phrase that will cause a major ripple in your thought process. That happened to me recently in a client meeting.

One of the participants was sharing a story about his 12-year-old developmentally-disabled daughter, talking about all that she has taught him as a father. Then, he shared a piece of wisdom provided to him by her pediatrician. The doctor explained that one of the biggest challenges that parents of disabled children face is that they inadvertently place limits on their children, lowering expectations because of their disability. The physician said, "Don’t put a top rung on your daughter’s ladder."

As I reflected on that physician’s words, I quickly came to realize that this is a challenge that extends far beyond just parents of disabled children. So often we make snap judgments regarding a person’s potential — either they’ve got it or they don’t. Once we’ve dropped them into one of these categories, it largely defines how we will interact with them from that point moving forward.

Creating Limitations For Success

The challenge is that those snap judgments simply are not a good determinant of one’s potential. After all, a snap judgment would say a man who stood at 5’3’’ could never play professional basketball, yet at 5’3,” Muggsy Bogues played 14 seasons as a point guard in the NBA. A snap judgment would say a child who didn’t learn to speak until the age of four wouldn’t make much of a ripple in the world, yet Albert Einstein went on to win a Nobel Prize and shape the pillars of modern-day physics. A snap judgment would say a homeless, single mother on welfare could never become one of the world’s bestselling authors, yet that is exactly what J.K. Rowling did with her Harry Potter series.

There are countless examples of people on whom we can easily make a snap judgment, placing a top rung on their potential and saying there is no way they can succeed, yet they go on to defy the odds.

As leaders, we must consider that perhaps our snap judgments on people and their potential aren’t serving us or them. Maybe there are far more influential forces that drive a person’s likelihood of success, something that simply can’t be seen in a snap judgment — forces that allow a person to overcome what others might perceive as barriers or even insurmountable obstacles.

When you study the commonality in all peak performers, the forces that drive them to succeed become self-evident. They form a framework by which a person comes to understand, influence and drive their behavior in optimal ways, regardless of setbacks, obstacles or what others perceive.

Measuring Motivational Intelligence

Accountability, adaptability, resilience, initiative and courage are always present in those who succeed. These five characteristics are the outcome of a person’s motivational intelligence. The bottom line is that you can’t put a top rung on the ladder of a person who is motivationally intelligent. They will consistently defy the odds and find a way to succeed no matter what.

You see the proof of this every day all around you. You see it when you look at your best people, the ones you would hire 100 times over (if you could just find more like them). You see it every time a problem arises and someone takes ownership of finding a solution. You see it in your most adaptable people — the ones who can roll with all the changes, brush off the challenges and still find a way to succeed.

People with high motivational intelligence possess the five core characteristics that we value most as business leaders — the ones that make all the difference:

1. Their higher motivational intelligence causes them to be highly accountable. The insistent reliance on pointing fingers, blaming others and making excuses is not something they waste mental energy on. Rather, they take ownership of their goals and achievements and find solutions to their challenges.

2. People with high motivational intelligence are also extremely adaptable. They are open-minded and willing to listen. Where others drag their feet in resistance, they broaden their horizons. When they run into roadblocks, they constructively adjust their approach and just keep looking for ways to win.

3. A resilient perspective is another key characteristic of people with high motivational intelligence. They refuse to be thrown off-track at the slightest bit of resistance. Their positive perspective and quiet confidence relentlessly propel them forward.

4. They have a willingness to take initiative. When they see a problem, they work to fix it. Their higher motivational intelligence causes them to be more driven to accomplish goals and be self-motivated regarding success.

5. And last but not least, people with high motivational intelligence move with courage. It’s not that they don’t experience the emotions of fear or doubt, they simply have the ability to override these self-limiting feelings. The prospect of change doesn’t hold them back, they recognize it as part of the natural order of life.

Consider this for a moment: If you saw higher levels of accountability, adaptability, resilience, initiative and courage in someone, is there really anything that could stop them? Is there a top rung on the ladder to their success?

How about from an organizational perspective? What if accountability, adaptability, resilience, initiative and courage were key cornerstones that were fostered as part of the team culture? How different would the organization look? What could be accomplished?

As organizational leaders, every day our actions breed something. There are causes and effects to the ways in which we interact with our people. Are we putting a top rung on their ladder or are we perpetuating the characteristics that will propel them to never-ending levels of success?

David Naylor, EVP of 2logical, works with global leaders to shift organizational mindsets, improve culture and impact performance.